| AdminHistory | Valentia was the eastern terminal of the first commercially viable transatlantic telegraph cable. The first attempt in 1857 to land a cable from Ballycarbery Strand on the mainland just east of Valentia Island ended in disappointment. Subsequent failures of cables landed at Knightstown in 1858 and Foilhommerum Bay in 1865 finally resulted in commercially viable transatlantic telegraph communications from Foilhommerum Bay in 1866. Transatlantic telegraph cables operated from Valentia Island for one hundred years until Western Union International terminated its cable operations in 1966. |